Pegasus Post: May 31, 2016

PEGASUS POST Tuesday May 31 2016 7
News
Choir’s heartfelt tribute
• By Tom Doudney
A TIGHT-KNIT choir
group have recorded a
song for the funeral of
a terminally ill former
member now living in
the Netherlands.
Women in Harmony
recorded East
Timorese hymn Ita
Hotu Maromak Nia
Povo We Are God’s
People at the request
of Dorien Pel who is
dying of cancer.
Ms Pel was a long
time member of the
choir up until about
six years ago when she
first developed
cancer.
When her house
was damaged in the
September 2010
earthquake, she
moved back to her
country of birth, the Netherlands,
for what was supposed to
be six months.
But the stay ended up becoming
permanent.
In spite of surgery, the cancer
had returned and Ms Pel
was already planning her funeral
in the Netherlands when she
returned to Christchurch for a
visit in December and January.
Choir member Judi Smitheram
said choir members had met Ms
HARMONY: Choir member Dorien Pel, standing with red scarf, fifth from
left, with the choir in 2007.
Pel at a social gathering and sang
together again.
“Dorien was wonderful at
always bringing poetry to our
gatherings and she had written
a poem especially for us,” Ms
Smitheram said.
It was during this visit that
Ms Pel asked if they would
record the song, which the choir
had not performed in more than
eight years.
The choir sourced a recording
of the song from Australia’s
Radio National station to help
them go over it and get the
pronunciation right, as the words
are in the Tetum language.
After recording it, they sent it
to Ms Pel.
“We got a lovely note back
from Dorien saying how much
she appreciated it and she was
very moved,” Ms Smitheram
said.
Women in Harmony has
about 20 members from around
Christchurch.
Tradesmen off
to national skills
competition
• By Matt Salmons
TWO TRADIES will put
their skills to the test when
they represent Canterbury
in the national WorldSkills
competition later this year.
Marshland welder Liam
Robertson, of the Lyttelton Engineering
company, and Spreydon
plumber Jesse Pitts, of On
Tap Plumbing, won their places
after completing two challenges
tailored to their trades.
The pair, both 19, will travel
to Hamilton for the national
competition from September 29
to October 2. Both are alumni
of the Ara Institute of Canterbury.
Here they will be competing
for a place in New Zealand’s
WorldSkills team, the Tool
Blacks. The national team is set
to compete in the international
WorldSkills competition in Abu
Dhabi in 2017.
Mr Robertson was tested on
his welding abilities and Mr Pitt
on making piping using different
materials. They were judged
on speed, planning accuracy,
ability to use materials and tools
and the quality of their finished
products.
Ara plumbing tutor and
judge of the plumbing competition
Blair Maguire said all the
competitors were reasonably
even, and the final decision
might come down to one point.
The international WorldSkills
competition is run every two
years. It pits young men and
women from all over the world
against each other in a competition
of skill based on their
profession, be that plumbing,
carpentry, baking or any of the
more than 40 categories.
Ara tutor and regional
competition facilitator for
plumbing, Ritchie Gorrie, said
WorldSkills was the “Olympics
of trades”.
Mr Gorrie has been to three
international WorldSkills events
and was impressed by the skilllevels
on show and the interest
in the competition internationally.
He said there were about
200,000 spectators in Leipzig,
Germany in 2013, where bricklaying
drew the biggest crowds.
​Charity that helps most vulnerable falls on tough times
• By Tom Doudney
A LOCAL trust which acts as a
problem solver for vulnerable,
disadvantaged and struggling
people around New Zealand
said it is in urgent need of
funding.
SigJaws Trust helps people in
a variety of ways, from lobbying
for retention of services, suggesting
changes to legislation,
finding work and housing and
promoting innovations.
However, project manager
Gary Watts (right), who founded
SigJaws in 2001, said the
trust had been struggling
financially for some time
and needed more funding
to carry on.
The trust’s operating
expenses were “conservatively”
about $207,000
a year and while it had
enough to carry on over the next
six months, finding new funding
was a big challenge.
“We have got over 200 clients
now that we are dealing with on
a day to day basis and a
lot of these people have
slipped through other systems
big time,” Mr Watts
said.
“We always struggle
to get resources. I don’t
think people even realise
what we do half the time
but we do some amazing things.”
One of its recent projects has
included working with Canterbury
University to develop a
robotic arm which would allow
mobility-impaired drivers to
fill up at petrol stations without
leaving the car.
The trust had received funding
from organisations including the
Ministry of Social Development,
the Rotary Club of Christchurch
and The Lion Foundation within
the last year.
However, it had been unsuccessful
in seeking funding from
the Red Cross, the Canterbury
Community Trust and the city
council.
“If our funding dries up it’s
just impossible to carry on,” Mr
Watts said.
SigJaws Trust board member
Jamie Hoffman, who has cerebral
palsy said Mr Watts had been
pivotal in helping him find suitable
accommodation after the
earthquakes.
“People just don’t realise how
much good he does out there,”
Mr Hoffman said.
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